Blogger: Rachel Kent
Here are some quotes about writing that I love. I hope you enjoy them, too!
Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world. –Albert Einstein
People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it. –Harlan Ellison
Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as a writer. –Ray Bradbury
Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer. –Barbara Kingsolver
Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good. –William Faulkner
If you have other things in your life–family, friends, good productive day work–these can interact with your writing and the sum will be all the richer. –David Brin
It is the writer who might catch the imagination of young people, and plant a seed that will flower and come to fruition. –Isaac Asimov
Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any. –Orson Scott Card.
A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit. –Richard Bach
Write what you know. Write what you want to know more about. Write what you’re afraid to write about. –Cec Murphy
Which of these quotes is your favorite?
Do you have a favorite writing quote that isn’t listed here? Please share!
Memoir: Mem-oir, or ME-moir?
Love all these quotes! “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.” is one of my favorites.
I love the last three. A pro is an amateur who didn’t quit, seeing story ideas all around us (it is a taught behavior for sure), and writing what you know, what you wish you knew, and what you are afraid of finding out!
I used to share inspirational quotes for my online writing group when it was active. I love all these ones, especially the Faulkner and Bach ones. Here is one of my favorites, though it isn’t writing specific:
“ Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best. ”
– Henry Van Dyke
Ooh, yes, Cheryl. Love this one. Thanks for sharing.
“If you want to change the world, pick up your pen.”
-Martin Luther
LOVE these quotes.
I wish that I were in the place
where affirming words could guide my way,
but hope’s now lost, with little trace
and I’ve forgotten how to pray.
In the past they raised my heart,
beloved phrases, held so dear;
but in this loathsome bleeding’s start,
someone get me out of here.
And silence, like a cold dark weight
covers all my once-good earth;
in mocking stillness informs the fate
of what I thought God planned from birth.
In freighted echo, Calvary-cry,
“Father, I’m forsaken…WHY?”
“Patient endurance can be developed only through hardship.”
Words from my devotional this morning, Andrew. They help me see a sliver of meaning to my pain. Your suffering.
And at the end of the page: “Rejoice, beloved, for I am polishing your character till it shines with the Light of My Glory.”
The glow so many of us have perceived from you and your words is bright. Thank you for you patient endurance. Your Savior and your reward await. Praying for you and Barb, my friend.
* quotes from JESUS ALWAYS by Sarah Young
Mary Kay, thank you so much for the shared evotional words…they’re perfect.
I’m so honoured by your kind thoughts and words, and we are so grateful for your prayers and friendship.
(And please excuse my delay in responding to your reply…today kind of set a new record for awful, and I’ve only now – literally – caught my breath.)
Andrew,
I do not know why you have to suffer. If it were my decision, I would have you cured and well.
Whatever God’s reasoning, I can tell you that your poems have guided me through some dark moments of my own. I’m sure my paltry needs are not the only reason for your trials, but if it helps you at all to know that you have helped at least one other person, be assured that you have helped me.
You may have forgotten how to pray, but there are many here who will fill that void with their own prayers. Eventually, even Jesus’s suffering came to an end–and a glorious beginning.
Elissa, that my poems have helped you means so much to me, more than I can say…and, more to the point, it validates the pain from which they were born.
Your words reinforce and burnish a sense of purpose, something that’s absolutely necessary in this kind of trial-by-ordeal (dramatic words, but true enough).
You’ve helped make going on worthwhile, and I am just so very, very grateful that you took the time to say this.
Andrew, hope may seem lost for you, but you have given such a wonderfully beautiful gift to so many on this website. The gift of your heart expressed through your words has been a blessing to many. Whenever I come to make a comment, I search to find what tidbits and nuggets of yours I will get to read.
Today, I am praying that you will know God’s strength and comfort in a new way. Be assured, He still cares for you, dear brother.
Thanks, Rachel! Enjoyed these. Faves from your list ~ I enjoy the practical reality of Orson Scott Card and Richard Bach.
Some of my faves: If I just work when the spirit moves me, the spirit will ignore me. ~ Carolyn Forche
This one encourages when the going gets tough: Age wrinkles the body. Quitting wrinkles the soul. ~Gen. Douglas MacArthur {shocks me that he said this! LOL)
Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. ~David McCullough
And this one I’m heeding as I close: Being a good writer is 3% talent, 97% not being distracted by the Internet. ~Anonymous
Adios!
Forgot one: Doors of opportunity swing on the hinges of opposition. ~ Adrian Rogers
Clearly I appreciate encouragement through the tough times!
Mary Kay, I’d modify Adrian Rogers’ words, thus:
Doors of opportunity swing on hinges of opposition, lubricated by the sweat of mobilized faith.
Well said, Andrew.
Well, here’s a quote, for writing and life…
In the days of gruesome antiphons,
of dying joy and fading light,
I hark to words of John Paul Jones,
“I have not yet begun to fight.”
I’m ravaged by a tireless foe;
while hope may not inform the night,
I’ll go as far as I can go
for I have not yet begun to fight.
My Saviour’s walk to Calvary;
I see His footsteps, burning bright
on salvation’s path of victory
and I have not yet begun to fight.
I may become fodder for carrion-kite,
but I have not yet begun to fight.
Andrew, that is beautiful. Brought tears to my eyes. We have not yet begun to fight! Fight the fight. Finish the race, brother.
Susan, thank you…in writing and in cancer, the race is over when God says it is.
Not one moment, step, or word before.
I have several quotes I keep close at hand and a verse also:
“You would rather experience the sharp pain of failure than the dull agony of a dead dream.” Josh Irby
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” Winston Churchill
Henry David Thoreau said, “How vain it is to sit down and write when you have not stood up to live.”
“Don’t write because you want the recognition of the tribe; write because you’re called to write. Don’t write because you want a pat on the back and an award; write because there is a story inside you that needs to be shared.” Tom Morkes
and Luke 1:45 “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
My favorite: Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any. –Orson Scott Card.